The
Burt Lerner Elementary Nationals concluded this weekend in Atlanta,
but not before more than 100 scores of youngsters put their mark on
nationals history. Though the last of the three nationals to have formed
in 1976, the Elementary Nationals has become the flagship scholastic
event for the USCF. A field of strong and determined players pulled
above the rest and can now call themselves national champions. For some,
their catalogue of accomplishments inched larger; for others, this is
the pinnacle of their fledging chess careers.

The
K-6 section went the way of the K-12 Championship section of High School
Nationals - six out of seven was good enough to win, though in
Atlanta only four players tied instead of 10 in Columbus. Expert Justus
Williams (NY), and A-players Mika Brattain (MA), Benjamin Moon (GA)
and Daniel Liu (CA), all sixth-graders, shared the title in the final
year qualifying for the section.

After the following round six win, Williams
had 5.5/6 going in to the final round.

But Williams had to survive his largest
scare of the tournament in the final round. On stage and on board one,
Williams held an exchange-down ending to clinch the shared title.

"I
thought I was lost after move 12," Williams said after the final
round, "If I didn't [sacrifice
the exchange], he would just crush me...I usually get out of these positions."

Moon,
the only other player at 5.5 after round six, was unable to convert
his space advantage on board two against James A. Black. Williams said
he had been following the action on board two to make sure a draw was
still good enough for the title.

Williams
is a product of powerhouse IS 318 in Brooklyn, NY and of the Chess-in-the-Schools
program. Though an admitted park player, he carries the opposite demeanor
of a hustler. Mostly reserved but quietly confident, he exudes the expression
of a player who expects early achievements to be a footnote at the end
of his career. Pressed for a sign that he knows his place in the scholastic
chess hierarchy, he allowed, "Later on I like to brag with my friends,
but not that much." Still, it felt more like a mature kid throwing
a bone to a reporter than actual truth. Since his tiebreakers bested
the others, Williams also wins an America's Foundation for Chess scholarship
to the next U.S. Chess School. He said he plans to accelerate his chess
schedule over the summer, with planned stops at the New York International,
Pan American Games and the World Open.

Daniel Liu, Photo Shaun Smith

Daniel
Liu is a lesser-known player in these circles, having only played for
the last 2.5 years. He hails from Palo Alto, CA and studies under GM
Larry Christiansen, but began with Michael Aigner. "I'm his first
coach!" his father chimed in, probably echoing the sentiments of many
fathers at the tournament. Liu said his final round was also his toughest,
but he needed to win to catch the leaders. "He was winning and he
blundered," Liu said of his opponent. Since he hails from the west
coast, Liu plans to play in Las Vegas and at the U.S. Open in Irvine,
CA later this summer. His celebration plans for Sunday night were apropos
for a chess player - he planned to see "How to Train Your Dragon."
Neither of us knew what the film was about, but it sounded suspiciously
like a chess DVD for sale in the bookshop. Further research indicated
that it is a product of DreamWorks, not Foxy Openings or Roman's Lab.

Mika Brattain, Photo Shaun Smith

Fellow co-champions Mika Brattain and Benjamin Moon are friends that share
a unique quality that sets them apart from the other champions in Atlanta
- neither claim to have a coach. Neither seems to need it either,
as Brattain also won last year's K-5 title at the SuperNationals.

The
Moon surname has been the bright star of Georgia chess for the past
few years, with brother Ryan Joseph Moon already becoming a Master.
Benjamin Moon said he could not count how many nationals he had won.
Playing in the last round for the outright title, Moon could only muster
a draw as White against Black (James A., that is). Still, since he had
lost 0-2 to Black in the Blitz Championship, which Black went on to
win, a draw and another title did not yield the worst result ever for
Moon. More litotes for Moon - he is now not unclose to becoming an
Expert, with only 12 more points needed.

Benjamin Moon, Photo Shaun Smith

Brattain
said his fourth round was his toughest, against Floridian Rachel Gologorsky.
"I was trying to squeeze my opponent off the board, " he said, "Then
I blundered, then I had to hang on to the draw."

The
K-5 section avoided the photo finish as 5th-grader Allan
Beilin of Fremont, CA was left all alone at 6.5 to win the section outright.
Beilin and Liu are friends, and the two benefit from their two Northern
California homes. Palo Alto is only 30 minutes away across the Dumbarton
Bridge. Beilin's father and grandfather both player, but the latter,
rated about 2000, doubles as his coach. He also takes lessons from GM
Yury Shulman.

Allan Beilin, Photo Shaun Smith

Like
most others, Beilin claimed that the seventh round was his toughest.
His situation was different from the K-6 players in that he was the
only player with a perfect 6/6 going into the last. "My dad told me
not to play for a draw," Beilin said. "Because if you play for a
draw you always lose," and Shulman would surely agree.

"I
could tell he was the highest-rated," Beilin said of 1900-rated
last round opponent Kesav Viswanadha, whose talent suggests a lineage
with a certain player currently playing in Bulgaria. In the game, Beilin
played the Black side of an French Defense Advance but was down
a pawn. Viswanadha was in bad time pressure and eventually Beilin sacrificed
a knight for the pawn and reached a dead-drawn ending.

The two are not
strangers - they are both part of the same scholastic chess scene.
Prior to this game, Beilin estimated his lifetime record against Viswanadha
as +3=6-3. It seems now he owes Viswanadha one.

Beilin
was the most animated of all the winners and had the exhausted but excited
look of someone who just finished a period of three days of intense
concentration. Asked what he will feel next year when his name is printed
in the tournament booklet, he said, "I'll feel really (long pause)
good."

Roland Feng, Photo Shaun Smith

The
K-3 winner was Roland Feng, one of only two players in Championship
sections to score 7/7 (K-1 winner Praveer Sharan also matched
the feat). Feng actually boasts a higher rating than the K-5 winner.
The quirky and diminutive Feng only came up to USCF Executive Director
Bill Hall's coat buttons as he accepted his trophy. Feng is from Thurgood
Marshall Elementary School in Seattle. He also won the K-1 Championship
in 2008. Feng said he likes to play 1. Nf3 and varies his pawn structure
based on his opponents' replies. He also likes the Taimanov Sicilian
and the middlegame attacks that follow. In the final round, Feng defeated World Youth silver medallist Tanuj Vasudeva.

Feng did not have a team at
the tournament, and said he won't make a big deal out of his title
to his non-chess friends back home. He acceded to youthful hyperbole
in his answers. "I'm not going to go over the details," he said
in mock exasperation. "Then I'll get a million questions. They're
going to shower me with ‘Oh my gosh!'"

Sharan,
from Oregon, raised his rating from 860 to 1145 in winning the K-1 Championship.
Though the section had players with gaudy ratings as high as 1500, most
rounds, including the last, had all games finish with 30 minutes or
so. Many chess-playing adults might quiver at the thought that a 1500
can't win a section for five-to seven-year olds.

In
the team competitions, IS 318, paced by Williams and Black, won their
second national championship of the year in the K-6 section (even though
the middle school was necessarily only sending its sixth-graders). They
had previously won the K-8 Championship earlier this year in Minneapolis,
MN. The team is coached and mentored by faculty chess teacher Elizabeth
Vicary, whose nonpareil work ethic had her analyzing games right up
until the awards ceremony.

IS 318, K-6 Champs, Photo Shaun Smith

IS
318 also benefits from instruction by GM Miron Sher. If you want to
up the odds of your child or team winning the nationals, you should
tap into Sher's goodie bag of old Soviet chess secrets. Consider that
in this year alone, Sher had coached individual winners of the championship
sections of the K-12, K-9 and K-6 and had second-place students in the
K-3 and K-1.

Half
Day School from Illinois took home the K-5 Championship over continuing
powerhouse Stevenson Elementary from Washington State. New York City's
Hunter College Campus School added to its lengthy scroll of titles by
edging Weibel Elementary on tiebreakers.

Hunter College Campus School, Photo Shaun Smith

Team Weibel, like Beilin, is
from Fremont. The Upper East Side's Dalton, which always contrasts
Hunter's purple shirts with its royal blue, easily won the K-1 Championship.

The
round one pairing fiasco, detailed in the previous report, mercifully
ended. Coaches expressed the need for more clarity in the appellate
process going forward. Several scholastic forums and feedback sessions
were hosted by the USCF, and at one meeting parents and coaches also
expressed frustration with the trend by some players to play non-USCF
rated events and arrive at the nationals with ratings that do not accurately
reflect their skill level. USCF Executive Director Bill Hall admitted
to being aware of the issue. "This has been a problem going back a
few years," he said. "We've got a board meeting in a few weeks
and I'm sure it will be discussed there. It is tricky. Recognizing
another system that we have no control over is problematic."

After
being made aware that some players in the unrated sections at this event
have actually played more than 100 competitive games under the auspices
of another rating system, Hall said, "With the unrated section, there's
not a lot we can do."

Ever
since they have taken over the organizational elements of national scholastic
events, the USCF has pulled in the reigns on their punctuality. Gone
are the days of late starting times and midnight awards sessions. Though
there were space issues as previously reported, the on-site directing
team, led by NTD Francisco Guadalupe, began every round on time and
at two minutes past the start time effectively quieted a recalcitrant
crowd to begin the ceremony.

Stepping
to the microphone to commence the trophy presentations, Guadalupe intoned
with a straight face, "Okay parents and players, remember, the next
round starts at 9 a.m. tomorrow morning." Parents chuckled, squirmy
kids remained squirmy but seated, and smiling youngsters waited for
their turn to cross the stage.